Division II Men

Loewen, Jackson Bring Circus to Limestone

Sophomore Riley Loewen (above) has turned into the
deadliest finisher in Division II after the arrival of fellow
Canadian and former Juco player of the year Shayne Jackson. The duo
has the Saints dreaming of a third national
championship.

Now that he's the athletic director at Limestone, former Saints
men's lacrosse coach Mike Cerino has a lot on his plate. Still,
he'll carve out a minute or two during his busy day to sneak down
to the film room and take a look at how the No. 1 team in Division
II is doing.

Earlier this year, Cerino ambled down the hall and ducked into
the lacrosse offices while the staff -- head coach J.B. Clarke
and assistant Chris Barrett -- watched video of the Saints
11-9 win over Le Moyne, a victory that started Limestone's race up
the polls. Cerino's coaching vision instantly focused on two
of the attackmen.

He recognized sophomore Riley Loewen, a player recruited out of
British Columbia during Cerino's penultimate season, immediately.
It took a little while to make out the second player, but the box
tendencies tipped him off that it was Shayne Jackson, an Ontario
native and the 2010 junior college player of the year out of
Onondaga, who matriculated at Limestone over the winter.

What unfolded on the screen made Cerino lean in a little
closer.

"I was watching them on film, I think it was against Le Moyne,
where they ran a beautiful pick-and-roll play on an inbounds,"
Cerino said. "I said to the coaches, 'Wow, when did you put that
in?' They said, 'We didn't, it's just something they do.'"

Welcome to the Limestone offense, an on-the-fly, high-powered,
box-centric, risk-taking attack spearheaded by Loewen and Jackson
that Clarke has dubbed, mostly affectionately, "The Circus."

Clarke, the long-time Washington College coach, has coached
prototypical box guys before in his career -- Gewas Schindler
at Loyola, for one -- but he has marveled at the confidence
both Jackson and Loewen show in skills rarely seen in American
field players.

"They do things down there that you can't coach, especially in
our youth leagues," Clarke said. "We tend to not let our kids throw
it behind-the-back, or backhanded, or around-the-world and all
those things. We'll come down here on a 4-on-3 and Shayne will
throw an around-the-world pass back to the point."

Clarke admits that he has to grit his teeth from time to time,
and there is a risk-reward aspect to their style, but the results
are hard to argue with. Not only are the Saints 12-0, but they lead
all divisions in scoring. In addition, Jackson leads the country in
points (5.08), while Loewen is atop Division II in goals
(3.58).

"He's pretty lenient about letting us do a lot of
behind-the-back stuff and letting us try stuff out in practice,"
Loewen said of Clarke's approach to the productive high-wire act.
"It's worked out pretty well from there. He'll let us know if
something doesn't seem right, but most of the time it's okay."

"We don't really think about it," added Jackson. "We don't
want to do it all the time, just when we have to. Sometimes it's a
little much, but it's fun."

The fun really started with the addition of Jackson to the
Saints' frontline. Loewen had a solid freshman year, amassing 37
points in the shadow All-Americans Mike Poerstel and Jake Rogalia,
but it wasn't until Jackson arrived with his pinpoint box passes
that Loewen has exploded.

"The connection those two have started once [Jackson] showed up
on campus," Clarke said. "It's kind of bizarre, to be frank."

"After the first couple of practices I knew the guy could feed
the ball pretty well," Loewen said. "We just kept going out there
and he kept on finding me on the field with all of his passes."

Jackson, in his usual understated way, has a more fundamental
analysis for Limestone's Canadian connection.

"It was really easy," he said. "I just give Riley the ball and
he puts in the net."

It sounds simplistic, but the knack both players have shown for
finishing is bordering on incredible. While "The Circus" draws
cheers from the crowd because of the high risk involved, and there
certainly are a number of errant passes, the duo is stunningly
efficient in front of the cage.

Loewen has 43 goals this season on just 71 shots -- a
staggering 60.6 shooting percentage. While Jackson has nearly twice
as many assists (40) than he does goals (21), he still scores at an
above-average rate of 46.7 percent (21-for-45). Similar to why
Loewen is having a breakout season, his shooting percentage --
and that of the entire team (43.8) -- is due to Jackson's
basic approach to feeding the ball.

"If the guy's open, you just have to give it him," Jackson
said.

Loewen and Jackson have brought their Canadian game to South
Carolina, but they are by no means the first installment of the box
brigade. Nick Carlson, Jake Lawson and Travis Gillespie, among
others, have all donned the Limestone uniform before starting
successful careers in the NLL, and there are several young Canadian
players on the current roster apprenticing under Loewen and
Jackson.

"There has been a strong Canadian influence on the program
whenever we've been very successful," said Cerino, who won the
Saints' first national title in 2000.

Limestone hasn't been to the national title game since 2005, and
its last championship came in 2002. It's a drought that could very
well come to an end this season, as the Saints have serious
aspirations to play on Memorial Day. If they do, Baltimore better
be ready.